Chaotic Times
by Wolf of Sahara
Summary: Time is after KeiOu's imperial address, and location is mainly in Kei. A self proclaimed Lord of Death with his own devoted shirei ruled the southern border of Kei. But even the Lord of Death has human ties... . Selfinvented characters, rated T for some d
1. chpt01

Disclaimer: Twelve Kingdom world, plot, and characters belong to Ono Fuyumi.

Note: I'm not a practiced writer, so if my plot doesn't make sense or anything, well, I'm sorry. -.-b As of now I have no pairings in mind yet, and I'm warning you now that I haven't the whole story plotted out in my head, so I don't know what'll happen later on.

"Marauders?" Kei-Ou looked up from her work desk at her taiho1.  
  
"The southwestern regions of Kei has a large plain stretching to the Kei-Kou boarder, and travelers has complained about a band of horsemen robbing them as they try to past through the boarder," Kei-Taiho calmly reported.

"And the local governors can't control them?"  
  
At that Keiki hesitated before answering, "They are very organized. It seems they have been around when late empress ruled, and over time they have became sophisticated in ... the trade. Recently they've begun raiding more isolated villages in You province."  
  
Kei-Ou fell silent for a while. "I understand. I'll look into this matter."  
  
The days were becoming warmer. Outside, human, and every other living beings, activities were also becoming more intense than ever. This included youma activity. While the weather made the cities fascinating with festivals and open markets, the youma activity made life difficult and perilous for traveling entertainers, merchants, and home-bound abroad students like Rakushun. Although En wasn't as devastated by heat during summer as Kou, its universities still included summer vacations for their members. The taiho of En had generously lent Rakushun a suugu2 to make his journey home shorter and easier.  
  
Of course, on his way to Kou, Rakushun had to stop at Kei to look up his friend, now Empress of Kei. They set up an approximate time and date to meet at the market place of Gyouten. They picked that area because shops stayed open late after dark, and people stayed out late after dark, so they wouldn't attract unwanted attention if Youko was unable to get out early.  
  
And so Rakushun spent his afternoon wander around every shop, and bought his mother a little hanging decoration. His feet were hurting when he spotted another suugu landing in the market area what was cleared of traders just an hour ago. Thinking the young empress in disguise had arrived, Rakushun was surprised to see Shoukei instead when he poked through the crowd.  
  
"It's really been a while." Across the table in a tea chop, Shoukei knew the hanjou3 was smiling under his thick, grey fur. They were served chilled tea and melon slices the shop just got off the market earlier. "How is Her Highness doing?"  
  
"You probably know too, that she takes everything she does so seriously," the former Hou princess smiled and sipped her tea, "Sometimes I feel like Suzu and my job is more to keep her from working than to help her work." They both chuckled at that, and Shoukei continued more gravely, "Today, however, Shuujo4 has been in foul mood ever since taiho woke her up. Taiho had refused to let her out at all today, and had sent me to find you."  
  
"I see," Rakushun tried to hide his disappointment even though he knew it would be selfish to expect an empress to skip her job for just anyone on a regular day like that. "Being an empress is no easy job after all."  
  
They chatted a little more, about recent news and about some old times, and Shoukei needed to leave. Rakushun had just turned around from seeing the girl off behind the tea shop when someone seized and pulled him from behind, nearly making him scream.  
  
Nearly, that was. As soon as he saw those crimson hair he was so glad he almost forgot there were still people in the kitchens around them, "Youk.."  
  
"How have you been, Rakushun?" the young Kei-Ou in disguise cut him off with a wrapped fist and a slight bow.  
  
Immediately realizing his slip in name, he replied, "As well as a mouse (scholar) living in a granary (school-full of books), Youshi."  
  
They left the back of the tea shop to an eatery next to Rakushun's inn on his suugu. "Shoukei told me Taiho didn't allow you to be out today." Rakushun said over a case of steamed buns.  
  
"I made a puppet with red straw hair, and knocked Suzu out with sleeping drug in her tea. It was surprisingly easier than I thought," Youko answered casually, while Rakushun's hand froze in mid air with his eyes as wide as the bun he was holding. Youko, however, continued, ignoring Rakushun's exaggerated reactions, "It took me three nights to finish sewing and coloring it, but it sure is one piece of art!"  
  
The mouse's eyes fell in shadow, and his jaw dropped. A dark aura descended slowly on him. Somehow, Rakushun got the feeling that a certain emperor he knew had visited recently. "Is taiho going to be alright with this?" he muttered.  
  
"Keiki?" Youko raised an eyebrow and grinned, "of course he won't, but he can use some muscle exercise, if you know what I mean."  
  
Rakushun was speechless. A crow flew by out of the blue.  
  
"Rakushun?"  
  
"Ah?"  
  
"Are you flying back to Kou by sea or by land?"  
  
The hanjou scratched his head with his short hand, "Probably by land. If I fly by sea I might become targeted by koucho5 flock. At least by land I can lose them in forest or stay near crowds. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Ah, I thought the same as well, and I also want to warn you about the marauders near Kou's boarder,"  
  
"I've heard about them," Rakushun nodded in agreement, "They've been around for a few years now, and I've also heard they came from Kou. The provincial lord, Minkai, has been unable to keep them away, and they've been damaging trades with Kou. Now that Kou-Ou has passed away, things are just looking worse for foreign merchants."  
  
"If he's having trouble subjugating a little band of raiders, he probably didn't report it to me to look bad..." Youko mused out loud. She took out a small pouch and pushed it across the table to her friend, "Hire some escorts for yourself." Rakushun pushed the pouch back, "I can't just take your money. This isn't..."  
  
"Don't refuse a friend's kindness so readily!" Youko complained with exaggerated hurt expression, "If you still feel uncomfortable, how about helping me gather information on these marauders while you're at the boarder?"  
  
"Well, I suppose I can do that..."  
  
"Deal, then!" Youko exclaimed, and Rakushun sighed in defeat.

1 A kirin's title. Hopefully most readers know this one, but safe sorry.  
2 A fierce tiger-like yojyuu; may be tamed to become a kijyuu, and is good for combat.  
3 Half-beast. Hanjyuus have an animal form and a human form.  
4 Specific title for emperor/ess meaning His/Her Highness (and the likes). I'm not certain on the spelling.  
5 A type of bird-like youma.

End Note: Instead of me attaching a dictionary at the end of chapters, detailed definition on terms like yojyuu, youma, etc can be found at this great JK fansite where I referenced to often myself: 12K-TP's The Twelve Kingdoms Fansite


	2. chpt02

Disclaimer: Twelve Kingdom world, plot, and characters belong to Ono Fuyumi. 

I re-uploaded all previous chapters after the indentation function was disabled, just so I have a uniformed appearance. There are some minute changes but that shouldn't be too affective.

* * *

Early at the double gates of Kokin, a town near the Kei-Kou border, a after Rakushun met his friends, peasants were coming in with carriages and baskets to set up that day's open market in the town center. The town walls were guarded by provincial and local soldiers alike so that, at a glance, they seemed intimidating. They were the reason why the town was safe from harassments like youmas and raiders. Nevertheless, just about everyone knew that once over the walls, those soldiers were as effective as paper-made tigers against the raiders. Presently, a carriage was halted near the town gates. One of the four spear-carrying gate guards was speaking with a young, thin man dressed in faded blue and khaki pants. The carriage driver was slightly bowed, and the guard was frowning like a student during a test. "Is there really no one else you can spare?"  
  
The guard transferred his question to an approaching colleague, and simultaneously the two shook their head negative. "Our last group left with a troop of traveling entertainers just yesterday. We don't have enough people to guard a carriage right now. There aren't just youmas out there, there're also the raiders."  
  
"What's wrong here?"  
  
The carriage driver and the gate guard were equally surprised to see a mouse hanjou leading a suugu. "That's a suugu, isn't it?" one of the guards asked, "Who are you?"  
  
"Rakushun," said the smiling mouse. He stretched his short neck sideways to see around the much taller guards, "What's going on? Can we not go out of town?"  
  
"My teacher and I need to go to Kou, but they won't let us hire escorts," the young man told Rakushun.  
  
"Sending out just two guards to cross Kou border here is just suicidal!" The first guard retorted, "And there're the raiders!"  
  
"Raiders?" The ones Youko wanted to warn me about?  
  
"You don't know? Even people in Gyouten have heard about them," the second guard bent down to make sure Rakushun saw his disbelieving face.  
  
Unaffected, the hanjyuu replied, "I'm from En, and I'm heading to Kou as well. If we travel together, we shouldn't be targeted too easily with a suugu." The young man looked up at the hesitating guards hopefully. "I think I can also pay a little extra," Rakushun added.  
  
"I appreciate your help back there," the professor said to Rakushun through the lifted blinds of his carriage. They were rolling along past rectangular patches of oily green rice paddies and golden yellow flowering colza fields. Three guards accompanied them – one strolling next to two horses that drawn the car, and two trailing behind the party. The mountain ranges that separated Kou and Kei were in sight. From the out-most Kei village was laid a strip of grassland extending along the edge of the lush forest that carpeted down the sides of the mountains. "My name is Shi-en. I teach young children in the Baku province, but I'm originally from Kou," the professor introduced himself. He was a man about forty-five with an easy smile, contrasting to his name, Shi-en (stonily strict). "This is a former pupil of mine, Chunni." The carriage driver stuck out a whip- wielding hand from the front of the vehicle.  
  
"I'm a university student at En, but I'm also from Kou. I'm visiting home," Rakushun said.  
  
Shi-en laughed, "So am I! I'm actually trying to convince my mother to move to Kei with me, now that our emperor had passed away. She lives quite far out from the city, and I'm afraid things might become hard for her."  
  
Rakushun felt uncomfortably embarrassed at hearing that, being reminded of his own mother, and wondered if he should ask his mother to move to En with him. "Kou seems fine now, but if a new kirin isn't born and a new Ou[1] chosen soon, it might be in trouble, isn't it?" he mused out loud.  
  
"So I am worried," said Shi-en, "Even though Kei is quite chaotic still, the new empress seems promising, having just removed an ill-liked officer."  
  
Remembering his end of 'bargain' with Youko, Rakushun asked, "The gate guards were talking about some raiders. Do you know anything about them?"  
  
"Just another group of out-laws, that's all," interjected Chunni from his seat.  
  
His comment appeared to insult their three escorts, as if they were the robbers in question. "Just another group of out-laws!" the leading guard exclaimed without a glance backward. His friends in the rear blew out disapproving noises. Bandits always lurked around somewhere on the passages between villages. Only in countries that had emperors of long reigns, like En, were bandits bed time stories. In a country that has been in turmoil for years, such as Kei, it was not unexpected to have bandits.

"Yeah, maybe," one rear guard said, "but as long as they have Mei- Ou, you don't try n' mess with them."

"Mei-Ou? A self-proclaimed emperor?" Rakushun asked.

"Mei-Ou is what we call 'im, since none o' us got an idea of his name. Heck, none o' us even know how he looks like!" the third guard said.

"Or if he's really a he," added the front guard.

"Right," continued the third guard, "Lord Minkai sent folks out twice, each with a good captain and organized soldiers, to take care of 'em. Twice, that bastard killed the captain before 'e even got near 'im, and those riders are fast. Unarmored, but fast. Those that came back said there was a really loud whistle-like noise coming toward 'em, and the next thing they know their captain was a pin-cushion. That's why we call 'im Mei- Ou, Sounded Doom, or Lord of Death."

When the guards stopped talking, Rakushun nosed them, "You're not sure if he's male or female?"

"No," said the front guard, "No one ever got close enough to see his face, and he's always hooded."

"Some rumors went that he was brought up by youmas which he killed himself when he came to age, and that was why he is as cruel as he is said to be. Other one has it that he used to be a general from Hourai, skilled with horsemanship and archery, and accustomed in killing. He could just as well be a she and you'll never know," the second guard said.

A sudden rolling croak was their only warning as a pair of large kouchos plummeted down toward them with closed wings.

Luckily, they were too heavy to descend far enough to snatch any of them with a steep angle like that. The kouchos scrapped off the top of the carriage, lifted back up into the sky, and prepared for another dive. The horses screamed and tried to tear away from the vehicle, and Chuuni could barely hold them in check. By then, the party had long past the last cultivated fields, but was still several hundred pus[2] away from the sparse edge of the deciduous forest creeping down the foot of the mountains.

The three guards were apparently too frightened to fight the youmas. Not that they had an optimistic chance against the kouchos to begin with. Their only defense seemed to be the suugu, which actually was trying to get at the kouchos, but with Rakushun pulling down at its leash with all he was made of. "Run for the woods!" someone shouted, and Chuuni gave up keeping his horses in check. Two of the guards jumped on the horses, and sped off with the carriage. Rakushun grabbed on to his suugu, and competed for the one guard left on the ground with the diving kouchos.

Suddenly, the suugu leaped up and clamped its jaws on a koucho's neck with no concern for its poor rider, clinging and swinging like a sticky stuffed animal toy. The koucho tried to lift back up with the suugu still attached to its neck.

Amidst the mix of ugly croaking and growling, Rakushun heard another caw close above him. He looked up to see the closing claws of the other koucho and its flushing face between them before everything became disoriented for him. It took him a few seconds to realize he was already in the air, passing the carriage on the ground the size of a peach core. He heard an angry roar, and something else, snowballing to an unbearable sharp whistle within a blink, stopping abruptly above him, and replaced by his captor's cry. A chorus of whooshes came next, and Rakushun felt the gravity took over. The forest beneath him became more and more detailed, and he closed his eyes and braced himself against the expected hard ground.

* * *

[1] Ou: literally translate into ruler, king, etc. 

[2] A pu is a unit of measure, = length of 2 steps.


	3. chpt03

Disclaimer: Twelve Kingdoms world, plot, and characters legally belongs to Ono Fuyumi.

Note: Toukis have abilities to harm and kill youmas, youjyuus, and immortals, I read, and this seems to imply that regular weapons wouldn't be able to harm aforementioned three, as if an arrow would just bounce off a youma or a sage. For fanfic convenience, I'll purposefully pretend I didn't understand the implication. Meaning, immortals are still immortals that only die from internal injuries and decapitation, but youmas and youjyuus would be slayable by regular weapons like regular animals, just with extra difficulties.  
  
Also, my thanks to Verna-S for pointing out my typo. I don't have other prove- readers than myself, so feel welcomed to tell me if I have grammatical and/or spelling mistakes. Also, if something isn't clear in the story, let me know as well. My gratitude in advance to you.

* * *

They watched the carriage snail toward them, toward the forest, and counted the number of guards from the top of a giant rock. Before them, vegetation was low, with scattered trees that made up the frontier of the dense forest behind them. One particularly old and bent pine was enthroned over that giant rock. Under it was a dark figure dressed in kyuuki skin caftan. His head was hooded under a kyuuki head. The caftan opened in the front and exposed his pale, bare chest. The man wore one leather glove on his left hand strengthened with arm protector. The tail of that unfortunate kyuuki wrapped around his waist as a belt. Under that he wore a pair of dusty white pants and leather boots as in custom of those who often ride on horse back. He carried a long bow, and two quivers. Some distance behind him hid partially one of his henchmen. More are distributed unseen in areas around him.

Some rustling above the pair, and an azure figure with long, white bandana landed in front of him. "It's a little mouse," she said, dusting herself. "A mouse hanjyuu." The man didn't speak. She looked again as if double checking her observation. The young woman dressed similarly to him. She had on fading black boots and an indigo sleeve-less over caftan with red cloud marks that looked like seeping lines of blood. The bandits called her Rinchu, clever colt, for the lack of a name.

"A mouse on a suugu, guarding a carriage," Rinchu stated. Her voice was ripe without sex, and her eyes restless and intense. "Karyuu, you think he could be a military official?"

"The laws forbid hanjyous to hold military ranks higher than lieutenant in Kei," Karyuu replied. He had slight, exotic accent. "Besides, that would look rediculous on a battle field." Rinchu imagined the mouse in a battle field, and chuckled.

A flicker in the sun above them drew Karyuu's attention. "There's a pair of kouchos," he said, and pointed upward with his long bow. The kouchos circled once, as if inspecting their prey for quality, and contracted their wings. Their croaks echoed lazily back from the mountains behind them.

When the kouchos scrapped off the top of the carriage, Karyuu snorted, "Lucky guy."

"This isn't a cricket fight we're watching, y'know?" Rinchu joked.

"Look!" Rinchu said, "The suugu has one of... one of them has the mouse!" From their distance, the picture looked perfectly natural – a bird of prey flying off with a mouse in its claws. Except that it was not. "They're heading our way. What should we do?"

Karyuu pondered briefly before taking up his bow and let fly an arrow. An elongated shriek soared over their heads, diminishing steadily until it marked its target. As soon as the koucho cried, a group of arrows raced out of the woods around them, pinning the koucho by its head. It let go of the mouse, who fell from the sky with its limbs and tail sticking out stiffly.

They went in the direction to which they saw the mouse fall. A dusty and slender goat hanjyuu, You Shiki, came to meet them and showed them to it. He had removed his upper garments in hope of a cooler body temperature, and was wearing ripped shorts. The mouse was bleeding, scratched by the koucho, and apparently had lost conscious due to impact.

Rinchu took off her bandana and wrapped up the mouse's back wounds. "He might need a doctor," she commented. Before she could pick up the mouse, however, the suugu they had all forgotten about had not forgotten its master. She barely missed its claws when it came pouncing off the sky. It stood protectively over the mouse on the ground, and showed no intension of letting them go near.

"Doesn't look like it wants the mouse to live," Shiki said, "Why don't we just leave them? That suugu's looking at me like dinner."

Other hiding bandits were gathering in from their posts. "Charity time's over," Karyuu said to them, "Three scouts stay out here and the rest will go back with me."

Tama the suugu was worried about his little rider. The hanjyuu had several large scratches on both his sides from the claws of the koucho. It heard something approaching, and stood up in guard position. It was the bandana girl, with her hands raised showing her palms. "Shhh, be a good boy, okay?" she whispered, "I know someone that can help."

Rakushun felt hot, like he was the sun itself, burning himself out from his inside. It's my fur, the explanation snail across his mind. He also noticed how exhausted he felt, so exhausted he found himself blanking between thoughts. From there his sensory organs began to regain their functions and territories they were supposed to detect, and a dumb pain on his back grew like a poisoned spider bite. He sighed quietly when he felt something wet and cool applied onto that pain. There was a strangely aged and strong odor. He opened his eyes tiredly and saw a phantom of a bandana-ed figure disappearing into a screen of undergrowths. The soothing coolness was still being applied and rubbed gently on his back, so he raised his head slightly to see the person. "You woke at a good time." A whiskered man stood up with a wet clothe in his hand, and Rakushun was surprised to find that that man was probably shorter than he was. A midget. The odor was coming from him. He put the wet clothe in a bowl of water, picked up a dry clothe, and proceeded to wrap up his back wound.

"Pardon me... but you are...?" Rakushun asked.

"Chu, Jiryou," the little man answered, "I was looking for medical herbs in these mountains when I saw your suugu and you on the ground, bleeding buckets. So I did some emergency treatment." Jiryou raised a hand with a large needle in his fingers.

"Are you a doctor from town?" Rakushun asked, while absent-mindedly tried to feel his back. He gave up when he remembered how short his arms were.

"I'm an apprentice to the doctor of Kokin town. Don't move 'round too much. That wound might open up," the dwarf warned him, "Kouchos are foul creatures, and so are wounds inflicted by them. I've put on you some medicines that'd slow the infection, but you should get treated as soon as possible by the best doctor you can afford. With your suugu, you can probably go to Gyouten." Jiryou dump the water in his bowl, and wrung the clothe dry. He put both away in a large pouch, and tied it across his torso. "This is 'bout all I can do for you."

Rakushun sat up, and his suugu went over to sniff him, as if making sure Jiryou didn't do anything funny. "How long will this take to cure?" he asked.

"It's just neutralizing the poison and disinfection. I say no more than two days," Jiryou answered. Rakushun gave his thanks, and the midget medicine man made his way back down the slope.

Rakushun sighed, "Two days...it takes almost a day from here to Gyouten." He climbed on top of the suugu and held on with all fours. He patted the kijyuu[1] gently, "Tama, can you take me back to Gyouten again?" The suugu purred, and took off extra carefully.

* * *

[1] kijyuu: a tamed youjyuu. 


	4. chpt04

Disclaimer: Twelve Kingdoms world, plot, and characters legally belongs to Ono Fuyumi.  
  
I made some changes to chapter 3. They're not, however, enough to make my readers go 'huh?' later in the stories (...uh, I hope not), just hint-like details about the new characters. I didn't like the relationship between Karyuu and Rinchu, so I altered it a little.

* * *

Kei-Ou Youko laid aside a newly written order to dry, and stood up to stretch. She noticed it was late afternoon, and the world had on a fierce glow. When she just began to rule, her office was quite spacious and clean, and had one table in it. Now the individual shelves in her office were mostly filled, and she played with the thought of adding tables. Next to her own office were that of the sankou's[1], and that of the taiho. Keiki's probably still in Ei Province, she thought, and Rakushun should have been at his house by today. She wondered too if he got home safely. At that moment the taishi[2] entered her office, carrying a letter. She walked up to receive it personally from the thin, old man. "Enho," she said after quickly reading through the letter. Only when Keiki was not within earshot could she call the scholar by his name. The taiho was very uncompromising about rules, one part of him that sometimes got on her nerves. "There's a lieutenant Batou asking for my kindheartedness and re-admittance into formal service," she past the letter back to Enho.

Enho scanned the letter. "He said he was serving under the Lord of You province, but fled with some of his men at the final year of Yo-Ou. He claimed to have left upon disappointment with the government at that time," he looked up from the letter calmly at Her Highness' young face.

"Were there a lot of runaway military officers?" Kei-Ou asked.

"It was not unheard of, but not so much so that it was common," the taishi answered.

"If he ever feels I should be ruling with trouble, he might pack up and leave again. I don't see what good there is to have someone like that working for me,"

"I might suggest otherwise," said Enho, "Kei has been in confusion since the final years of Yo-Ou. Years of corruptions require a lot of power, and time, to cure. As authentic as Shuujo are Kei's new Ou, some people are still uncertain, and some are still mindless of laws. It is much as possible that there be other riots. Batou has his little fame in You province as a powerful warrior. Perhaps his morals aren't as well trained as his muscles (here the taishi and Kei-Ou shared a mischievous little smile), but his abilities are undoubted, therefore I recommend Shuujo to use people for their abilities over their morals. Forthwith, Shuujo might wish to consider questing for and using people of exceptional abilities, for the time is quite chaotic yet."

Kei-Ou was silent for a second, and then she smiled. "I don't really like doing so, but you have a good point. I'll accept lieutenant Batou's reenlistment," she dampened her brush in a sculptured inkstand bigger than both of her palms – an unnecessary luxury to her like many other things bestowed upon her enthronement. She gently tapped the end of her brush on her chin while composing in her head a reply letter to lieutenant Batou. Stopping the motions, she added, "I should like to speak with him as well."

"As of now lieutenant Batou is camping outside the city gates with a troop of one hundred, waiting for Shuujo's reply. His messenger is in waiting room," said Enho.

"I'll see him tomorrow at noon," said Youko as she finished writing. She allowed the ink a few seconds to dry, added the royal seal, and secured the letter, "Please give this to lieutenant Batou's messenger for me."

The taishi bowed with the letter in both hands, and exited her office. Kei-Ou watched him walked out of her office's door frame, and looked back down at the unread documents, but made no move. She picked up her brush, doodled a bit on a screwed up letter, and suddenly stood up defiantly. "Well I'm hungry. Guess I'll have a break!" she said out loud to apparently no one but her diligent half of self, strode out of the door, and

"AUGH!!!"

Hankyou's long, unsmiling face was but a finger's length away from her own, his thin, long eyes pierced through hers like two knives. "Shuujo," he said without moving a muscle in his face, "Is there something you need?" Like master, like sirei[3].

"No… I thought I might take a break…," said Youko, bewildered by the unusual intense care from the sirei. She turned around to walk down the other end of the aisle, and came face to face with Hyanki's big, grinning face. Jakko, the rabbit-like little youma sat on his shoulder with innocent big eyes. Behind him, the taiho[4] and the taisai[5] had both rushed out of their adjacent office, hearing her bellow, and looked both as confused as she was.

"Would you like one of us to accompany you?" Hyanki asked, trying to look kind, but, alas, he was born with a face that petrified crying babies.

"No," Youko stated, and gave her two advisors an all-is-well with her hands, "Why aren't any of you with Keiki?"

"Taiho said he will be fine with his works, and has sent us to assist you," Hankyou replied.

Can you read a file? No. Can you use my seal? No. Can you write? No. Do you even have hands? No. Youko began counting off in her head. She noticed her deteriorating mood, and reminded herself not to get carried away by exhaustion. "I think I'll call this the day. I'm going for dinner," said Kei-Ou. She started to walk past Hyanki, and when she felt the two shireis moving toward her, she turned back and put her foot down, "And don't you follow me!" Both sireis shrunk back at the royal order and sat together while their eyes followed Her Highness until she turned a corner. Jakko, the rabbit-like sirei Keiki had caught as demonstration, danced down the path of Kei-Ou in invisibility.

"Really," Kei-Ou complained loudly to her two friends, "It isn't as if I run away all the time like En-Ou. Even Enki doesn't keep so close of two eyes on his emperor."

"Since you slipped away without warning last time despite taiho's request for you to stay," Shoukei reminded her empress, "He seems to have become afraid that you're picking up on a bad habit."

"And you aren't, are you?" Suzu asked. She sat next to the dark-hair ex-princess on her bed, leaning back on her hands, while the owner of the room sat properly with her knees together and a cup of tea in her hands. Night had fallen since Youko left her office.

"Of course not!" Youko puffed once and stood up from a chair next to Shoukei's window. Too much of the sceneries were lost to darkness to sit there for. She began pacing very slowly, as if window shopping, a sign that her thoughts were flying with seriousness and business in mind, "I want to investigate the gathering bandits at the southern border myself. They got quite a reputation that even reaches Gyouten. I need to do something about it, in case it turns out to be another rebellion." When she said that, an involuntary smile flowered on her face at the memory of her first rebellion upon ruling this country. The eyes of the other two girls met, and they smiled as well. They found it hard to believe they actually risked the crime of revolts.

"You have to do everything yourself, don't you?" said Suzu, "Watch out don't over work."

"When are you leaving?" Shoukei asked.

Youko stopped pacing, "I thought of leaving earlier this evening…"

"…before Taiho returns?" continued Suzu with a mischievous grin.

She looked like a child caught in action taking cookies out of a jar before snack time, and denied too quickly to be convincing, "No, I wasn't…besides, I'll be meeting an escaped military officer tomorrow, so I won't be able to leave until the day after." She proceeded to explain about lieutenant Batou to her girlfriends.

"Will you be telling the taiho about this?" Shoukei asked, "He might want to join you for lunch. After all, you're meeting with a military officer who deserted his responsibility to his Ou."

"Then I'll just limit his men outside the city gates, and his sword outside the dinning room," Youko said, "And besides, if anything happens I still have the Hinman." She thought about the pending lecturing and persuading between her 'servant' and her, and sighed. Keiki was, naturally, always worried about her, and made a fuss whenever she wanted be outside Kinpakyou without him. It couldn't be helped. He drew too much attention. Sometimes, she felt like the 'servent'-emperess relationship was reversed.

"Would you like us to go with you?" Shoukei asked, "Taiho might be less worried if you aren't alone."

"And more people can gather more information," Suzu added.

"Sounds good," said Youko, "Come have dinner with me. I'll talk to Keiki about this later."

* * *

[1] The three advisors of the emperor/ess of a country who served directly under the saiho (taiho, the kirin) 

[2] One of three advisors.

[3] Sirei: youmas submitted to a kirin for his/her command.

[4] Not the kirin taiho, but one of the sankou. Its kanji is different than the commonly known title of saiho.

[5] One of the sankou.


	5. chpt05

_Chpt05_

Disclaimer: Twelve Kingdom world, plot, and characters belong to Ono Fuyumi.

About how some names are spelled in English. I've never seen the official English JK DVD, so I took up all my translation from fan subs and websites. To me, it's hard to change my already deep-rooted concepts of each word's English version. However, if you pronounce the words, they shouldn't be too different. So live with it. :P

I looked up the army structure of TK world, and got some basic ideas from the site's diagrams and charts. Since I don't know how each rank is translated into English, I just assigned to each what I felt was its Western equivalent title.

* * *

Kokin Town was not a big town, but it had a market place in its heart. Since it was the closest town to Kei's southern border, all merchants from Kou looking to do business in Kei stopped there first to unload. Likewise, those going to Kou more often than not would stop there to refresh themselves. It was also one of Kei's heaviest defended towns, since it was furthest away from the empress' benevolence, and youmas horded remote towns and villages. The rich flow of merchandises also attracted gathering groups of raiders of about several hundreds altogether, under the leadership of three bandit top dogs.

"But I'm not really worried about this town being raided," a young waitress of a tea shop said in a lowered voice. She had a greasy towel hanging from her side pocket, behind a similarly clean apron, and she spoke loudly with confidence. Her face was shiny with precipitation, and she was also an apprentice to the shop's cook. Apparently, she was taking a break when she wasn't supposed to by chatting with her equally young customer. "Not because of the guards, but… you know, it's just people talking, though…"

"Actually, I don't know," the black-haired girl said. When the waitress' eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets, the girl quickly explained, "I'm from Sai."

"Oh no wonder!" said the waitress. Pause. "Why did you come all the way from Sai to this crazy place?"

Crap. "I… I heard a new empress has risen in Kei, and I came to… help out my cousins, you know, to build a new life," Buy it, buy it!

"Wow… ain't you the sweetest thing," said the waitress.

"So what are people saying?"

"SEI!!!" roared a bearded man with bulging eyes that was the cook, and he looked unhappy.

Sei, the waitress and amateur cook, cringed and crawled toward the angry man like a scolded puppy. Before leaving, however, she past over a lead for her young customer, "Mei-Ou has friends in here."

Suzu watched the waitress disappear behind a curtain that separated the room she was in and the shop's kitchen, indulging slightly in a déjà vu. She stood up shortly from memories and strode out of the shop. It was mid-day, their planned meet-up time, so she picked a direction and started walking, while speaking loudly to herself, "Well then, let's see what Youko and Shoukei have got!"

"There're usually no youmas around here, unlike other parts of You province, and no bandits mostly," an old woman said quietly without breaking much of her wrinkled smile. Her back was bent and her once indigo clothes was washed out to pale blue. Although she mustn't have as much hair as when she was young, she still wore a hairpin that seemed to be ivory, decorated only with a red string. She was walking slowly next to a young woman with long, dark, silky hair, and a, or so she believed with that blurred eye sight of hers, handsome young swordsman with crimson hair. The 'young man' was carrying bundles from that day's market for her.

"Why is that?"

The old woman studied her inquisitor through two thin eye slots, trying to see 'him' better. The corners of her wrinkled mouth sunk for a brief moment before they were pulled up again. "I'm not sure either… I talk a lot don't I? We're already at the gates – oh, no need to escort me past the gates. My sons will be here to pick me up soon. Thank you for your help, young man. Wouldn't this country be much better if there're more young people like you, especially when we have a struggling government? Well, thank you so much. Good bye." The old woman wobbled out of the town gate like a turtle.

"You need to soften your expression more," Shoukei said with an exasperated sigh," especially your eyes. Whenever you're serious your eyes get so sharp you scare people."

Youko felt her cheeks warmed, "Do I?"

"You do." Shoukei confirmed gravely, but started to giggle. She extended her right arm straight at Youko, and pointed one finger at her, "She called you 'young man'! Hahahaha!"

"… I know I'm not very spectacular over 'here'. There's no need to emphasize it," said Youko indigenously.

"Ha... oh… we should proceed to the Copper Pheasant, or we will be late," Shoukei dried a tear with the tip of her sleeve.

The two of them arrived at a restaurant much larger than the teashop Suzu was in earlier. It had two stories. The second floor was enclosed in walls of chestnut color with skies carved out in them. The street side opened up to a balcony just deep enough to seat pots of flowering plants. They had agreed to meet next to the viewing door on the second floor. An olive green vertical banner floating slightly from the balcony bore large, golden letters – The Copper Pheasant. Suzu was on the first floor when they came in, chatting with a group of three bulky men towering over her. Their dusty worn-out clothes suggested they were probably doing mandatory labors. The restaurant was so loaded with people that it was almost vibrating with voices. Not only because it was lunch time, but also because the market had just closed, and all the traders and market folks needed refuel after a whole morning's hard work. Suzu had managed to save the three of them a table before a wave of people hit. She saw the other two girls walking up the stairs, and excused herself from the machos. Since kirins tend to faint at the sight and smell of blood, Kei-Ou had been restricting her diet to near vegetarian to get along better with her taiho. But now…

"Give me Wen-Chen duck, half, shrimp ball soup, six grilled squids, and sweet ham buns, also six," said Youko, tracing her sight down today's-menu, which was a formation of bamboo pieces with dish names written on them hanging on a bulletin board next to the stairs. Can she really finish all those, was a shared question on the minds of Shoukei and Suzu, but they decided not to spoil Her Highness' day. When the waiter left with their orders, Youko said to Suzu, "You know, I would never have suspected that's your type."

It took the not-so-young girl two flaps of eye lids to realize what her friend was talking about, "HEY! I was collecting information! And you thank my hard work by picking on me?" She pouted, and turned for help, "Shoukei"

The imperial record keeper1 looked away, determined to keep out of this one.

"So you two teamed up and played around while I was working all alone by myself?" Suzu felt so wronged by their turning up together.

Shoukei noticed Suzu's childish jealousy, and began to explain, "We ran into each other by accident, but we tried to pretend not to know each other. Then some off-duty guards started to bother me…"

"Harass you," corrected Youko, "and putting hands on you. So I had to go punch their faces in."

"She did not actually do that," explained Shoukei, "So, Suzu, what did you find out from those men?"

"Hn, like I would tell you!" still pouting, Suzu replied with amazing display of maturity.

"I'll lend you that messenger bird of mine," said Youko, "for Sekki."

Suzu blushed and looked like she wanted to protest, but instead said "Well, if you insist, I guess I should let you in a little." Youko and Shoukei exchanged looks. "The guys down stairs said that the doctor of this town once saved the life of the bandit leader that possess the mountain ranges right out of this town, and so they leave this town alone most of the time. "

"Speaking of the doctor," Shoukei felt she had to interject, "I've heard disquieting news that he has been traveling out of town often so that sometimes he would be days absent, leaving his pharmacy in the hands of his apprentice…" She paused, uncertain if she should finish.

"It is a possibility," said Youko, "that there is an epidemic starting."

"But," Suzu said, looking at Youko, "but… you hasn't done anything to anger the Heavens, have you?"

Youko said nothing in return, as did Shoukei, who looked nervously at her along with Suzu. Their food was served then, and their stares all became directed at the food, with no one touching their chopsticks. Finally Suzu said, "Well, you did desert your duty last time."

"That wasn't even a day," said Youko, "Wouldn't the country of En be laid to complete waste by now if that's what the Heavens frown at?"

"I was only joking!" said Suzu.

"We know!" came a duet of answer. At that time, Youko decided she would not to tell her friends about the content of discussion she had with Batou, for she found it hard to utter.

"We have better start eating before the food turns cold," said Shoukei. Suzu and Youko murmured agreements. During the meal, however, Youko's friends noticed how she spoke too inconsequentially with too many pauses to prove all was well. That doubt was confirmed when after lunch, before either of them said anything, Youko announced it the day, and suggested them go ahead back to Kinpakyuu while she stays to 'take care of some stuff'.

"Youko," said Shoukei with unsmiling eyes, "is there something you aren't telling us?"

"Don't be silly," the girl answered, "I'll just be visiting the local bars, to see if I can get some more tips on this matter – tips that are off-limits to you girls." She finished with a mischievous wink.

"I'm no girl!" Suzu protested immediately, "I'm a-hundred-and-… and a handful of years old!"

"I remember that," said Youko, then she turned to Shoukei, "Inform Taiho that I will try to be back before dusk, so try not to come charging out here to nag at me. Hyanki, Hankyou!" The shireis answered from her shadow beneath the now food-free table.

"What about you? You, of all of us, should be accompanied by the shireis," Suzu asked.

"Don't worry," said Youko, standing up, "I won't be going anywhere besides the bars. If need be, I still have the Hinman." She led her not-so-convinced friends out of the restaurant and, without giving them a chance to protest, sent them away with her shireis. Now, of course I will go to but the bars, thought Youko, and marched toward the town exit in full stride.

Not much later, in Kinpakyuu, Kei-Taiho slumped into an elaborately carved red-wood chair with red silk cushions. His slender brows were locked in a head-on fight with each other, but his tone calm like a brooding storm. Standing in front of him were two guilty-looking young women, and beneath him, in shadow, were two sheepish youmas. "Shuujo is at a town near the Southern Border with but Jouyuu2 and an unknown time of return?"

Not a soul dared answer. What an incorrigibly self-willed… ruler! Thought Keiki, rubbing the ridge of his nose, while trying to unlock his eyebrows. She never consults with me these 'investigations' she does! What does she take me for? With a sudden stand he declared, "I've heard enough. Please retire for today, all of you."

* * *

1 As far as the anime went, we know that both Suzu and Shoukei went back to work for Youko after they each done what they had to. What were they working as, the anime ever revealed. However, I'm guessing on the kanji from a Japanese JK site that Shoukei was the imperial record keeper (女史) whose job was to record the history during Sekishi's rule. (http:12db.main.jp/db/08.html)

2 One of Keiki's less visibly prominent shireis. Jouyuu is a Hinman that possesses and controls Youko's body so she won't be harmed.


	6. chpt06

Disclaimer: Twelve Kingdom world and characters belong to Ono Fuyumi.

_It'smore than 1 year.I stopped writing after school started, partly because I didn't have the whole story thought out and ordered yet, and partly because school projects fried the creative part of my brain too much on a daily basis to allow extra work-out.Although my last summer started long ago, I've beenall signed up for classes and whatnot... a'ight enough excuses, ifanyone got frustratedwaiting, I'm sorry._

_I looked up more detailed information regarding the world of Twelve Kingdoms on a Japanese site, but my illiteracy in the language permitted only so much understanding. The military system was one thing I looked up, and to avoid using too much meaningless terms I choose to transform each rank into their best fitting modern equivalent according to my judgment. Also, since I don't have a good source of kanji pronunciation guide I began to base off the spelling and pronunciations of new name of people and place on Mandarin Chinese, which is more readily available to me. Perhaps I should list out all the created names somewhere with their kanji and literal meanings?

* * *

_

Stone, like small, fat mushrooms caps, their arrangement betrayed their artificiality, spread off to both sides of this dirt path. Behind these stones lay a soundless village in dark silhouette, enclosed by bamboo fencing, in front of a low sun. There was no need to go further for Youko, who stood before these stones. She didn't count them, but estimated near forty. They say on no mounds of earth, nor did they have mini altars before them, and neither were there any other tokens of human contribution to the dead besides the tombstones themselves. Despite that, Youko was quite certain that she viewed a graveyard. She knelt down, and observed the grass were unevenly new throughout – from her furthest an arm's height to just a thumb's for those closest to her. The burial process had spanned over several days, but the method of burial was equally minimal and hasty. She looked up and around once more, and concluded that the original graveyard for this particular village must lie on the opposite side – they should be easily-potted tall tombstones with incense stands, and she saw none. The houses of that village seemed to be all in tact – no black scorch marks or fallen roofs – and fuzzy above the roof tops of the houses was the tip of a large tree that must be situated at the center of the establishment. From where she was everything appeared to be fine, except for the lack of life and a gate ajar.

Three days ago, Youko had her meeting with Batou, a lieutenant of the provincial army of You Province. The meeting was to be a brief interview before she could decide whether or not to re-enlist the man. She invited him to lunch, and, although not much a drinker herself, put out fine wines. After a few drinks, she asked him why he left his job before. Relaxed, Batou told her that he and two other lieutenants used to serve one captain whose name was Karyuu. When the false empress took the throne, that captain suddenly disappeared with one of the lieutenants and his young daughter. He applied for the vacated position hopefully, since he had had several years of decent service history to You's provincial lord, Minkai. His application letter, however, seemed to have passed into another world.

Just when Batou was frustrated enough, he received the news that a new captain had already been assigned almost as soon as the old one disappeared. The news surprised him, and then it angered him when he found out that the new captain was Minkai's own nephew who had next to no experience in military affairs. Feeling shamed and bitter, he deserted his office with a few of his men, hoping to find his old captain. They were unsuccessful, however, and he went back home, hidden as a farmer. His followers also left him for their own homes. Batou lived in a small town to the south of Kokin town, close to the waters. When asked about the troops of people outside the Kinpa Palace1 that had come with him, he said they were average people from and around his town. Some of them had lost their livings due to natural disasters or youmas, and some volunteered when he started this group of militias to fight youmas and bandits.

One month ago Batou and his party tracked down a particular pair of Saikos2 that had been harassing several villages and roads. The sheer brute force these creatures possessed made it nightmares for many local residents to go outside even during days. He and his men had hoped to stop and stock up on food and water at a village not far off their track before lunging their final assault on the Saikos' lair within the forest up the border mountains. They quickly became alarmed as they moved closer to the village itself, when a sourly stench stung at their noses. Upon arriving, they found numerous maggot-infested corpses, already decomposed so that white bones showed in many parts, littered everywhere. In some places, domesticated beast large enough, such as horses and oxen, had evidently ran down what fences that contained them and escaped. Smaller ones like chickens or goats that were kept in iron cages or had not the strength to escape laid dead in their confines due to neglect and starvation. There were dried blood stains everywhere, no just near the rotting carcasses, but splashes on walls, droplets on paths, and stains on made-shift weapons like sickles and cudgels, held in hands of some of the dead bodies. The heat had sped up the decomposing process, and the rutting fume drove his party out of that horrid place before long.

Now slowly walking past the graveyard and into the ghost village, Youko noted the dark stain spots she saw. They were as the lieutenant had described – everywhere. Their concentration increased as she probed deeper in, but almost none near the gate from which she entered. She opened her mouth to order Hankyou and Hyanki to examine the other three gates for her, but promptly remembered that they had been sent away by none but herself not too long ago. If only I had known… thought she dryly. The streets there were not as straight and well-organized as would be in a bigger community, but the four gates still sat at their respective directions. She turned abruptly left, and walked to the village's southern gate. The blood stain distribution was just like the eastern gate. It was as if no one tried to leave when whatever disaster it was befallen them.

Was it really a plague? Most likely not, Youko mused. She had yet to learn an epidemic that would cause massive and, judging from the shapes of some stains, spurting bleedings. Still, she had to take in that possibility considering how different this world was from the one which she came, and how all sorts of crazy things can happen here.

Did youmas attack? Quite possibly, since some corpses held weapons, according to Batou. It was, however, strange that youmas would eradicate an entire village and yet leave so many corpses untouched, since, from Batou's account, all the dead bodies were in relatively completeness, though rotten to dirt. Wouldn't a youma be attacking humans to _eat_ them?

Or were they besieged by the notorious marauders that drew her out here initially? This cause sounded the most appealing, but Youko painfully noticed that even though there were dried hoof prints casting near the once muddy fields, they were confused. Most likely, those prints were left by escaped animals of the villagers, and not of the purpose oriented fleet of bandits. She hit a stucco wall to her right in frustration. These villagers were certainly murdered, and she wanted a culprit. Perhaps, she tried to make sense out of this bizarre case, perhaps the marauders came on foot, in disguise? That must have been it!

"Shuujo!" a rather unfamiliar voice broke her chain of thoughts, "Someone is already here."

Quickly and soundlessly Youko brought herself against the wall she just hit, her right palm resting on the hilt of the Suiggutou3. "Where is he?"

"By the tree, near the center of this village. It is an old man," replied the shirei.

"Thank you," said Youko, and hesitated briefly before asking, "Who is this?"

"Jakko4," the little shirei surfaced from Kei-Ou's shadow, and bowed standing on its hind legs.

"You've been following me?"

"Yes. Shuujo have not order me to leave," replied the shirei as he sank back into the earth. Youko allowed herself a smile. A shrewd one, thought she. The sword was bared. She waited to turn her final corner, and observed the low grumbling of a pig and the voice of an old man. .

"Stop acting like a spoiled child now, and come on," the old man was saying.

Youko peeked. There was no one else but an old man of salt-and-pepper hair and a fat pig with rope around its neck. The old man was dressed for out doors, and carried a package across his back. He was looking and talking to in front of him at nothing in particular. Was he talking to the pig? Youko thought, and stepped out toward him, sheathing her sword. "Umm… mister, it will be dark soon…" The old man turned around crisply and the look of clear surprise and horror dispelled her doubt about his sanity.

"How did you…? Leave! Leave here now!" he yelled, waving his arm desperately.

"Shuujo!" cried Jakko all of a sudden distressfully. Just then something busted out of one of the village home beyond the old man, and charged at great speed toward her. The beast appeared vaguely to be a horse, but was a woven mass of bright colors. It had two uneven horns like a rhino, and two symmetrical ones like a bull's, but growing out of its cheeks, all lowered to better pierce the young empress with.

"Youma!" spat Youko and redrew the Suiggutou. To her sorrow, the old man threw himself between them, facing the youma.

"No! You mustn't…!" was all he could get out before the wind was knocked out of him and the youman's horn pierced through his abdomen. The pig screamed and ran off. The youman gave out a noise like the cross between a neigh and a yelp, jerking its head side ways, and tossing the old man to the ground. It spun around and galloped away, a lion-like tail trailing behind it. By then Youko had clearly seen the beast was brightly colored only on its face and manes, but the rest of its body was blue with vivid red curling lines, as if it was bleeding. She felt a maddening urge to charge after the beast for its blood, but her senses jerked her around to kneel beside the dying old man. Some distance off came the cut-short scream of the pig was heard.

"Are you alright?" she asked, taking out the Hekisoujo5, but realizing not even the enchanted gem could save the old man's life at that point. He was at the edge of death. He hauled his shaking, skinny hand to his chest.

"Ji…Ryou… please give…to… …," were his last words. Youko held him silently and still for a while longer, then, taking in a deep breath, she laid him down carefully. She searched inside his clothe where his hand stopped at, and withdrew a medical license plate. Apparently the man was a doctor from near by. Is he the doctor from Kokin town whom I've heard rumors about? Just when she was contemplating on how to find out who he was and how to inform his family if any, Jakko called her again.

"Shuujo, the youma has returned,"

"Good," said Youko with a menacing smile, surprising Jakko. She stood up, and readied her sword.

"Shuujo, is it really a good idea to…" he began, but was shut up.

"It has killed one of my people, and most likely many more. It deserves death!" The many-horned youma dashed out from behind a blood-stained house, made a sharp turn that kicked up great clouds of dust, and charged head on at Youko like a crazed bull. "You are not getting away this time!" she snarled and drew back her sword, ready to pierce the beast's heart in one blow.

A pale flash and there stood between her and the youma what resembled a unicorn of the European legends. "Keiki!" cried Kei-Ou with dismay, "Et tu!"

Choosing to ignore his master for the moment, Keiki began chanting rapidly at once, his single horn slowly radiating as he did so. "Rin! Byo! To! Sha…" The youma's mad stampede froze and its movements sealed by the divine beast's words. Both stood in complete silence and stillness as they simply stared at each other. In mere moments, however, a deafening screech soared from behind the youma, past it, nearly striking Keiki as it wheezed by him, and got chopped in half by the Suiggutou. Although no harm was done, it had broken Keiki's concentration, allowing the youma to tear away and escape. Youko's first reaction was to run after it. After a few steps she stopped herself as she watched in shock a hooded figure came out of his hiding, grabbed the fleeing youma by it horn, and swung himself onto it back, riding away together.

Youko was especially tempted again to storm after their hides when the hooded figure extended a left hand, and pointed his thumb down.

"Shuujo!" she turned back as beckoned. Her other, expressionless half was staring at her as if she was a to-be shirei, and fury was burning all around his holy body and in his widened, purple eyes. Ack.

"Shuujo," Keiki repeated, his voice shaking a bit less this time. "Disappearing without notifications, running amok out in the wilds alone, and refusing protection from shireis. You're the empress of Kei kingdom! How can you cheapen your well fare so? What will Kei become of if something is to happen to you? The ministry will become confused and doubtful with your constant absence! If there are things you wish to investigate you should just relay a command to the provincial lord! There is no need to devote excess amount of time in one area. The other provincial lords might feel neglected and displeased. Moreover, reluctance to discuss…" And on went Kei-taiho, over-taken by emotions and completely oblivious to the whole-bodily shaking that had taken over Her Royal Being like a volcano about to erupt.

"ENOUGH!" Youko bellowed. Unbelievable! Thought Youko, he knows nothing but to nag at me about where I'm falling short of his expectation!

"Shuujo…" Keiki was rather taken aback for a while by the girl's out burst. The pause gave him a chance to take in his surroundings and all the blood marks that were everywhere. He then noticed the dead old man, the big blanket of blood he laid upon, and his right fore hoof that was soaked in it. The kirin then suddenly went rubber-legged and wobbled drunkenly sideways away from the blood, and dropped down on his behinds, his head lowered between his stretched-out front legs.

"Keiki! Are you alright?" Youko rushed to the side of her suddenly ill kirin, concerned, and with no trace of her boiling anger a little moment ago.

"I'm fine… just a bit faint,"

"You need to leave. Go wait for me outside this Hell hole, wait, better yet, go wait for me in Kokin town," said Youko while wiping the bloodied hoof clean with a corner of her sleet casual caftan. "They will be closing the gates in an hour or so. Can you make it?"

"Yes," Keiki straightened himself up, and hesitated to leave. He wanted to ask where Youko would be going and doing what that he would be waiting her for, but he also didn't want to detonate her temper again.

"What's the matter?" Youko asked.

"Shuujo... is not coming with me?"

"I will hand this man over to the authorities of Kokin town, and I want you to go ahead first," explained Youko. The amount of blood that covered the dead body could have the kirin fainting every five minutes, being more an extra burden than help.

"Hankyou, Hyanki, and Juusaku, stay with Keiki," added Youko, "I will take this man to Kokin town" The shireis had just caught up to their kirin master, who, with his speed, had left them sweating and chasing his shadow leagues behind.

"Shuujo meant to carry this corpse alone to within the town gates?" Keiki asked incredulously. The dead man was, although old, nearly a whole head longer than his young sovereign, and wider too.

"Correct," said Youko, "I want none of the townsfolk finding out they've the Empress visiting." She picked up one of the old man's arms kneeling on one knee, and shifted his lifeless weight over her back. Even with Jouryou's help, a dead person was still quite a heavy burden. She had to take a few quick, tiny, and heavy steps backwards before she could lift both of them upright. She felt a strain at her lower back as if it was that time of the month, something she left gladly in the other world.

"Shuujo…" Keiki began.

"Don't," Youko glared at him. She took a balancing step eastward. Then another. And another. And marched steadily for the still welcoming gates of Kokin town.

At the western gate of Kokin town two gate guards were cracking their necks sideways, stretching their arms, and staring intensely up at the large rocks that were the building blocks of their town. Guard Suai let out a grunt as he noticed a bulky figure making his way to them. "Every time," exclaimed guard Tang, "somebody just have to barge in at the last minute."

"People are crazy," guard Suai agreed. They both watched with annoyance as the person snailed on. Then Suai realized something wasn't quite right. "Wait…" he squinted, having grown up in the mountains, he had better eyesight than his partner. "What the Hell is he carrying?" Tang, alerted, began to squint with great efforts as well. It took a while before both guards saw they had two people instead of one, and longer still for them to recognize the man being carried as the red-haired youth reached the gates. A series of loud quacks made by wood stick against metal sheet broke out above them.

"Doctor Lien!" both guards cried out in unified horror.

"He's dead," said Youko.

"What happened?" the guards glared at the girl.

"I ran into him out side, and we were attacked by youma. I wasn't fast enough to save him," Youko explained.

Both guards eyed their blood-stained visitor suspiciously. The dead man had bled enough to cover Youko's back, and her front was also splattered with brown speckles when the youma's horns pierced the old man right in front of her. It looked like, she just realized, she had stabbed someone frontally. "You have a sword," Tang stated, "Hand it over."

Youko's hand went to her side, where the Suiggu Sword was hanging from her sash. Of course she couldn't conform. They wouldn't be able to draw it anyway, and not many people in the Twelve Kingdoms own an enchanted, auto-lock sword. She also remembered with a mental wince that it was bloodied from when she dropped it in the old man's blood puddle when he passed her the medical license. She was doomed guilty of this death even with DNA testing and all. Nakajima Youko, she thought you are so dead. "I can't give you this sword."

The cries uttered by the guards upon recognizing the corpse and the delay in shutting the town gates had drawn down the upper level guards that kept time, and the man that was in charge. He was an average-built man in his mid-thirties, with short, slightly curled hair and thick eye brows that were as dark as his eyes. Strangely enough for a gate guard he looked almost sympathetic with those eye brows of his, but also well learned. He was briefed of the event, and demanded sternly for the sword that was, unknown to him, the national treasure. "Just let us check that sword," he said, "Unless you're hiding the blood stains you forgot to wipe off."

"I did not kill this man!" Youko exclaimed.

"We will decide that," he said, reaching out for the Suiggu Sword. At that the Hinman jumped to action as Youko deflect the guard master's hand and tripped guard Suai in one circular motion. She aimed at the distant mountains and sprinted.

Four guards including the guard master tailed their suspect out the town gates, but braked shortly as they saw two foaming and snarling youmas bearing down at them from beyond the youth. They promptly U-turned and scrambled back to shut the town gates. "Go get eaten by youmas!" guard Tang tossed out his last insult.

Though escaped safely with her true identity, Youko was sure her portrait would be peeking off every wall and pillar in Kokin town from the wanted poster within one day. Keiki chose to express his feelings regarding this matter with absolute silence all the way back to Kinpa Palace and well into the following day, which worked out for Youko anyway since she was storming her brain all night on how to inquire the provincial lord of You about the bandits, and maybe the strange ghost village.

Late the next day, after his return from Ei's provincial government, Keiki looked for his Empress in her study. She wasn't there. Instantly nervous, he nearly ran down Suzu on his way to Kei-Ou's bedroom right before Her Highness' chamber doors. "Suzu, is Shuujo in for the night?"

"Not at all," Suzu answered energetically, waving her palm, "In fact, she had just sent for you."

Feeling much more relaxed, Keiki thanked the dark-hair girl before stepping past her to knock on Kei-Ou's doors. Although taihos are the only ones in the whole kingdom who may enter their rulers' chamber without permission, Kei taiho never failed to ask. "Shuujo, it is I, Keiki. Requesting permission to enter."

Can the formality, would you? Though Youko helplessly, but said instead, tiredly, "Come in."

Upon entering the royal chamber, the taiho realized his empress had changed to her street outfit, and was in the middle of wrapping up the Suiggu Sword in a piece of cloth. "That was pretty fast even for one with the fastest legs in this world," she teased.

"Shuujo, you're leaving again?"

Youko gave her kirin a bemused look, "What else does it look like I'm doing?"

"Is Shuujo going back to Kokin town?" Kei taiho's expressionless face remained unchanged, and his tone of voice was flat as ever, betraying no emotions.

"Yes. There is a personal matter I want attended to," When Keiki didn't say anything else, Youko looked up from her wrapping. She expected more questions, especially since they hadn't had a real conversation since last night. Instead, Kei taiho stood there with furrowed brows and a thoughtfully perplexed expression. Apparently there was a lot on his mind as well. She almost asked what he was thinking about, but, suspecting that she wouldn't get a satisfactory answer out of him and fearing she would be ask the same question in return, she didn't. If he wasn't going to open the can of worms, neither was she. "Are you… still mad at me?"

Keiki was surprised by the question, which was written all over his pale face. "No, as long as Shuujo is unharmed," he answered honestly.

That kirin does not lie, does he? Deciding that the atmosphere had become too emotional for her taste, Kei-Ou switched to her official mode, "The provincial lord of You Province, ah… what is his name…?" The one that spoke no more than five times since I took over, I feel bad I never remembered his name.

"Minkai,"

"Since he already reported that investigation on the notorious bandit lord is already underway during the assembly this morning and he knows I'm aware of it I will leave that matter to him. I told him I expect regular and frequent reports," Kei-Ou looked up with new thoughts in mind, "What do you know about a former captain of You province named Karyuu?"

Keiki was confused by the illogical jumps from subject to subject, and trying to catch up with his mistress gave him little time to think much, which he suspected was the Empress' intension. "Karyuu is a master marksman and led a team of skilled horsemen personally to battle every time. He has yet to receive defeat, and there are some newly born legends about him in his last battle at Tanyuan City. He is very strict about military rules. I've heard he made the provincial lord of You dismount before entering his camp on foot at the battle of Tanyuan City simply because the rules forbid horse riding inside the camp," Keiki reported.

"What could have made him walk out on a successful career like that?" the young Empress mused out loud. She swung the Suiggu Sword over her shoulder, and was about to walk out of the room pretending to be still thinking when Keiki called her.

"Shuujo," Keiki said, and Youko braced herself for a lecture, "may I ask you to remain within town walls this time?"

"… That's it?" Youko asked in disbelieve. He was not going to ask me what this 'personal matter' was? Not to leave it to someone else and go take care of more important matters?

"Huh?"

"N-nothing!" He probably gave up on lecturing since I doubt I'll listen anyway. She suddenly felt a tinge of guilt tickling in her heart. There he was, her other half with whom she was supposed to work together to build and protect an entire kingdom, and she was avoiding him like the plague. Then she remembered how he actually sent all his shireis to keep half a dozen eyes on her because she sneaked away once for a few hours, and her guilt disappeared with a poof. "Can you lend me one of your shireis again?"

"Hankyou, go with Shuujo to Kokin Town,"

"Thank you. I'll try to be back tomorrow before dark," Youko said. After she and the slender, dog-like shirei took off from a courtyard, Keiki look down at his blurry shadow and call for his nyokai to follow them.

* * *

1 Where ruler of Kei lived. 

2 Bull-like youmas that attacked but were cut up by Youko in an En town.

3 Suiggutou : Kei's national treasure. A sword that reflects what sits in the heart of its owner.

4 The rabbit-like youma Keiki caught as demonstration for Taiki.

5 A pale green gem attached to the sheath of the Suiggu Sword; has the ability to heal wounds and provide warmth.

* * *

_I stopped halfway through this chapter last summer, and picked it up again 1 year later, with many pauses between every other few paragraphs. Hopefully things hold up in logical order and tells a good story._


End file.
